


Fortaine

by Josselin



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 22:07:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13510734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josselin/pseuds/Josselin
Summary: Nikandros came and stood next to him. "Exalted?""Take it," said Damen, gesturing. "Take the fort."





	Fortaine

Fortaine was larger than Ravenel. The walls were thick and tall, defying penetration. Damen’s father had spoken of taking Fortaine some day as he had spoken of taking Marlas, covetously, imagining it as another jewel in his crown of Veretian forts along the Delphan border.

Nikandros rode next to Damen, now. Nikandros had lived the last few years in the shadow of Fortaine. He probably thought of it as Damen’s father did. Or perhaps not. Nikandros had been a voice of caution in Theomedes’s war council. Theomedes had warned Damen that he had to watch for his friend becoming soft. Perhaps Nikandros would have never thought of it the way Theomedes did. They had never spoken of it, together, Damen thought, and he had a pang of regret for many things he had never spoken with Nikandros about.

There was no conversation now. They were half the number they had been before the disaster at Charcy, but they had a hold for Akielos along the border that was deeper than Damen’s father had ever made it.

Damen called a halt to the riders, and took in the flags flying at Fortaine.

Fortaine flew a whole series of banners, one below another, and they told a story that Damen tried to unweave. Flying highest was the standards of the King of Vere. Damen hadn’t expected them, at first, had thought to see the Regent’s colors. He remembered the messenger that had declared Laurent a traitor and proclaimed his uncle king, and he wondered why he thought the man would have hesitated to have updated all of his banners. He had probably had them all embroidered years prior.

Below the standard of the king, was Laurent’s blue and gold colors, signifying that he was in residence. There was nothing good about the Regent and Laurent in the same keep; at best it meant Laurent had been arrested. Damen supposed that if he had already been executed as a traitor they were unlikely to be flying his colors.

Below the banners of the royalty was Guion’s flag, which seemed small and paltry in comparison. 

On the field, Damen had no banner of his own to fly. He was riding under Nikandros’s standard. Jord had hoisted a small banner of Laurent’s colors, though there were even fewer of Laurent’s men with the Akielons now, after Charcy, though Damen considered it a credit to his own military training on their trek toward the border than any of them remained.

Outside Fortaine, there were rows of tents, tents that Damen recognized. 

“There are too many of them to garrison within the fort,” Nikandros said, guessing at the reason for the spill of tents outside the walls.

“Why are they camped out of arrow range of the walls?” said Damen, still staring out at the field. There was a space between the thick stone walls and the beginning of the tents set up on the field; he was willing to gamble it was the exact distance an arrow could be fired from the notches in the wall.

“Jord,” Damen called, summoning the Veretian over to him. 

Jord approached. 

“What do you make of this?” said Damen.

“There’s nothing good about the Regent being here,” said Jord. 

Damen nodded. “Who is camped outside the walls?”

Jord looked at the camp carefully. “Those are Laurent’s men.”

“Are you sure?” said Damen. “The ones we expected at Charcy who didn’t come?”

Jord nodded.

“I want you to parlay with them,” said Damen. 

“To what end?” said Jord. 

“Find out why they are here, and not at Charcy,” said Damen. 

The parlay was less eventful than Damen worried. Jord left as a single rider to approach the series of Veretian tents, and he returned with a man Damen recognized as having been one of Orlant’s sparring partners. Damen thought his name was Rohan. 

Their conversation that afternoon was straightforward. Why had Laurent’s men not met with Damen’s at Charcy as expected? Laurent had told them to wait for his return outside of Fortaine, and he had not yet returned.

“Returned from where?” said Damen. Nikandros was watching their conversation intently, but his Veretian wasn’t as good as Damen’s. 

“Inside,” said Rohan, nodding back toward the keep.

“Certainly there was a battle when the Regent arrived?” said Damen.

Rohan shook his head. “No one arrived or left except the Prince. He went in with a small group of guards to speak with Guion, and he hasn’t returned.”

“He went in knowing his uncle was there?” said Damen.

“No, captain,” said Rohan. “His uncle’s flag wasn’t flying when we arrived. He went in when it was just Guion, and then later the king’s banners went up at the same time Laurent’s did.”

“So it is some kind of trick,” said Damen. 

He left Rohan and Jord in the tent and went outside, looking again at Fortaine and it's banners in the afternoon sunlight.

Nikandros came and stood next to him. "Exalted?"

"Take it," said Damen, gesturing. "Take the fort."

Taking Fortaine was not as simple as securing Ravenel been, neither the first time, when they had snuck in wearing stolen armor, nor the second time, when the Akielons had already been let into the courtyard. But Damen was more determined than he had been in either of those cases, and the Akielons who had seen him on the field the day before at Charcy were not inclined to argue. 

A section of the wall on the east side was due for repairs and neglected, and Rohan worked with some of Makedon's men on a siege engine that managed to turn it into a pile of rubble and then the men swarmed within with their shields held over their heads as a defense against archers on the walls.

Guion was not amidst the fighting, but Damen found him cowering in one of the towers with his wife. 

“Where is he?” said Damen. 

“Govart took him,” Guion said quickly.

“Where’s the Regent?” said Damen.

He wasn’t present, Guion said. Govart had said to fly his colors but the man himself had never been at Fortaine. Damen gave orders for Guion and his wife to be taken as hostages.

They continued searching the keep. Damen found Govart coming up from the dungeon, and killed him, and he took a grim pleasure in doing so, though when he made it down to the dungeon and found Laurent tied up and bleeding he wished he had made Govart suffer longer.

“Laurent,” Damen said, opening the iron door with a clang. 

Laurent raised his head, looking dazed. “You came.”

“Are you badly hurt?” His nose looked broken and his shoulder was bleeding. 

“I didn’t think anyone would come,” said Laurent.

Damen cut the ropes tying Laurent’s hands to the chair. Laurent cried out in pain as his arms shifted. 

“Can you walk?” said Damen. 

“Yes,” Laurent proclaimed, and took one unsteady step before Damen steadied him with an arm around his waist. “Are we escaping?”

“No, I’ve taken the keep.”

“I missed our rendez-vous,” said Laurent, turning his head to look up at Damen as Damen guided the two of them up the steps.

“There are still battles ahead of us,” said Damen. “You can make it up to me.” They found a small room off the kitchen where Paschal had set up, and Damen left Laurent to the care of the physician.

That evening, Damen sacrificed Guion’s wine cellar to troop morale. A small contingent of men drew unlucky straws and took over the watch, particularly along the section of wall they’d demolished, and the remainder stared at each other over fires in the courtyard until they were drunk enough to start singing and having badly translated conversations. 

Even Nikandros seemed pleased, relaxing next to Damen on the steps of the keep with a wineskin. “This was a fortunate victory.”

Damen smiled at his friend. “Thanks to your military skill.”

Nikandros offered him the wineskin, and Damen accepted, drinking and handing it back. 

There were footsteps, behind them. Damen turned, and Laurent had emerged from the keep and stood at the top of the stairs, taking in the revelry in the courtyard. After a moment, his eyes landed on Damen. He walked down the stairs, slowly. He was wearing only his linen undershirt and a bandage wrapped around his shoulder; his jacket must have been lost. His face was bruised and he had the beginnings of a black eye.

Nikandros eyed him as Laurent made his descent. “Your highness,” Nikandros said. He didn’t offer to share the wine with Laurent. Given that the day before, Nikandros had sworn to kill Laurent himself for failing to appear at Charcy, Damen considered it a victory. 

“Kyros,” Laurent said coolly. “I see you received my note.” He spoke Akielon.

Nikandros drank again from the wineskin. “I did.”

“And were you satisfied as to my evidence of Kastor’s treachery?” Laurent took another step and stood on the step one above where Nikandros and Damen were seated. 

“Yes,” said Nikandros. “I was less satisfied with your reinforcements at Charcy.”

“I was tied up,” said Laurent, his tone casual, as though he were a courtier making an excuse for missing a garden assignation. 

“What did Paschal say about your shoulder?” said Damen. Laurent’s shoulder already pained him, sometimes; a serious wound might permanently affect his swordsmanship.

“He gave me a salve,” said Laurent.

Of course he had. Laurent sat down on the step he was standing on, folding his legs off to one side and resting the unbandaged of his arms on top of them. It was a pose that made him look very young. 

Nikandros stood, nodding at Damen. “Good night,” he said, and walked down the steps to join the men in the courtyard. 

“What happened to Govart?” said Laurent.

Damen frowned. “He’s dead.”

“You?” said Laurent.

Damen nodded. “You can’t be sorry about him.”

“No, I should have killed him weeks ago,” Laurent said.

“Why didn’t you?” 

“He knew something.”

“Something.”

Laurent yawned. “Something about my uncle. About Marlas.”

Damen froze at the mention of Marlas.

“Laurent,” he said. “I have to tell you who I am.”

“I know,” said Laurent. 

“You know.”

“I’ve always known,” said Laurent. Laurent reached out and drew a finger along the gold cuff that peaked out below Damen’s sleeve. 

“I kept the other for you,” Damen said. Laurent looked from Damen’s wrist to his eyes. He extended his wrist, waiting.

Damen fumbled in the sack at his waist for a moment before he was able to draw it out, still rough hewn where the blacksmith had removed it. He held it out to Laurent for a moment, but Laurent made no move to take it, just waiting with his wrist extended. 

So Damen put it on him. It was too large to fit Laurent and hung heavy on his wrist. Damen pushed it up his arm to fit more securely on his forearm. Laurent did not object.

“I really didn’t think that you would come for me,” said Laurent. “I didn’t think anyone would come for me. I thought I was dead.”

“You would have thought of something,” said Damen. 

“I am glad you came, though.” Laurent’s voice was sincere and quiet.

“Are you going to offer me another reward for my service?” Damen said. 

Laurent laughed. “What would you like?”

“My fort could use a new wall,” said Damen, pointing toward the wall they’d demolished on their way in.

Laurent’s lips twisted. “Your fort,” he said, arch. His fingers were still touching Damen’s wrist.

Damen looked back at him evenly. “My fort,” he said. 

Laurent smiled. “I can see you are going to be intolerable. I should have made you keep pretending to be my slave.” Laurent stood, half turning back toward the keep before he looked back down at Damen. “Well?” he said, as though Damen were being slow. “Take me to bed, Damianos.”

**Author's Note:**

> [All of the author's Captive Prince fanfic](http://archiveofourown.org/works?utf8=%E2%9C%93&commit=Sort+and+Filter&work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=kudos_count&work_search%5Bfandom_ids%5D%5B%5D=3516977&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=0&user_id=Josselin), [come follow me on tumblr](http://josselinkohl.tumblr.com/)


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